Some Facts About Spring Break (a.k.a. Why I’m Glad I’m Not an American Parent)

Via: Online Schools

A Pretty Accurate Breakdown of the Creative Process

Yikes. I think Murray the Nut has been spying on me. 

8 April Fool’s Day Pranks to Play at the Office

April Fool’s Day is coming up, and if you have to work that day (we don’t — heehee) here’s an old post I dug up just for you:  8 Great Pranks to Play at the Office (originally published in September last year). Have fun!

1. The Post-It Prank

Who to target: Your boss. Or the most OC person in your office 

What you’ll need: Some friends, a million post-it’s and a lot of free time.

What to do: Cover every possible surface of your victim’s office with post-it notes, and then hide and never admit to anything, even under the threat of torture. 

2. The Passive-Aggressive Door-Holding Game

Who to target: Random strangers in your office building

What you’ll need: A door, an arm and a sick sense of humor

What to do: See illustration above. Close the door just as the panting stranger gets to you. 

(more…)

Field Guide: 8 Types of Tech Fanboys and What Makes Them Tick

PC World recently compiled a crazily comprehensive guide to 8 species of tech fanboys — which is actually really useless to me because my hubby’s totally tech-unsavvy. I’m sure there are some of you who might find this info useful though, so here you go!  (Click on the pic for a larger view)

via Geekologie

I’ll Be Watching You (Miss You Coco)

This is just all sorts of awesome. Team Coco forever!

Oh and btw, Coco - I really think you should hire him. 

via Buzzfeed

Cool Tool: The Focused Flowchart for Email

You’d think something this simple would be common sense, but it really isn’t… so here’s a great guide from HowtoGetFocused.com on how to handle the horror of an overflowing Inbox. I’d give it 5 stars, if it wasn’t in Comic Sans. 

via Lifehacker

Celebritweets Theater: Conan o’ Brien

I’m a huge fan of  KCSCougar’s Celebritweets Theater — a brilliant cartoon that takes a celebrity’s tweet and animates the fake story behind it.  And YAY, there’s finally one about Conan! Check it out.

View the vid on YouTube

Today’s Time Waster: Create a Cool Beatboxing Mix at Incredibox

Incredibox lets you create your own beatboxing mix by dragging symbols onto the shirts of up to seven virtual beatboxers. The symbols activate different sounds: instruments, percussions, effects, and voices.  Drag a symbol onto a shirt to start the sound, and click the shirt again to make it stop.

What I like about it is that you really can’t mess up.  No matter what combination you choose (and there are a LOT!), it’ll still sound pretty good. I just wish there was a way to record your mix  — and more voice variations, because the guy yowling “Tell me the right thing” gets a little annoying after a while.

>> Go try it out!

15 Things You Can’t Say When You’re Drunk

via 9gag

Cool Tool: NutshellMail

I’m one of those lucky people that get to hang out on social networks a lot as part of my job, but those of you who don’t enjoy that privilege might like this.

NutshellMail is a social networking management tool that transforms your email inbox into a single social Web command center.

NutshellMail makes sure you get your regular social media fix — even if you never actually log on to your social networks — by consolidating and organizing your notifications into an interactive email digest. You can set your own delivery schedule, and when you get your NutshellMail you’re not limited to just reading. You can update your status, reply to friends’ posts, share stories, send tweets and so on right from your email inbox. 

Pretty cool, but possibly terrible for your productivity — so if you don’t meet your work deadlines, well… don’t blame me.

>>Go check out NutshellMail

How to: Hack an Elevator to Skip All Other Floors and Go Straight to Yours

This is REALLY cool… and ummm, inconsiderate. But seriously — now that I know the trick, I’m actually pretty bummed out that my office doesn’t have an elevator.

See the Elevator Hack on YouTube

A Simple Explanation for Your Single Friends

Yeah ok.. maybe it’s a little simplistic and not 100% true… but it’s shaped like a tree! How cute is that? That’s got to count for something.

via 9gag

Hilarious How-To: Take Better Profile Pictures

This brilliant ad by Samsung actually does give some good photo tips — but it does a better job of reinforcing the harsh truth that profile pictures should never - EVER - be trusted.

View the vid on YouTube

Cool Tool: BannerSnack

BannerSnack is an online tool that allows you to create flash banner ads and other types of flash content “in the amount of time it would take to go get a snack.”  (Well, depends on the snack… and the snacker, of course.)

There’s a lot you can do with this tool — from classic animated banners to interactive flash banners, from flash headers and intros to flash microsites and CD presentations. All from scratch and without Flash programming.

The service is free to use if you only link to the banners hosted on their site (or don’t mind having their watermark on your elsewhere-embedded banner). Otherwise, you have to pay for watermark-free embeds or SWF downloads using “Snack points” — which range in price from $0.66 to $1.90 depending on how many you pre-purchase.

>> Go try it out!

How to: Create & Air Your Own Cable TV Commercial for as Little as $20

Seriously, how cool would it be to see your very own commercial air while watching cable television?

After seeing Slate V’s experiment on Youtube, I’m convinced that Google TV Ads is the MOTHER of cool online tools… well, until I find something else anyway.

Google TV Ads is an online marketplace that makes it easy for anyone to buy and measure national cable television advertising. Using the familiar Adwords interface, you can launch a television campaign in minutes — and run it for as little as $20 per TV spot.

The possibilities are kind of terrifying (just imagine all the crappy ads that could — and probably will — surface) but it’s good to see that the “little guys” can now get their 15… umm… seconds… of fame without having to go broke.

Go try it out! You’ll find an easy “Getting Started” video here.

How to Speak Womanese

I had a great lesson on “manspeak” from my Facebook & Twitter  friends the other day, so I thought I’d return the favor by posting these “How to Speak Womanese” guides  I found at Our Kitchen Sink. Enjoy!

Site to See (& Snicker at): Weopia Virtual World Dating

Hmmm. Virtual World Dating. Yeah whatevs, Harvard & MIT nerds…  A first date suggestion like “Hey, let’s go HANG-GLIDING… in CYBERSPACE!” is a really smooth move… if you say so. *chortle*

>> View the vid on YouTube

>> Snicker at the Site 

Hilarious How-To’s: Stop Crying & Fake a Smile

I come across a lot of How-To’s on the internet, some really helpful and some just hilarious. As always, I choose the hilarious.

How to Stop Crying

via Robots with Feelings

How to Fake a Smile

via Basic Instructions

Today’s Time-Waster: St. Patrick’s Day Bingo

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! If the people at your office are among the millions of non-Irish folk who try to horn in on this holiday — this Office Bingo card should probably get filled pretty quickly.

via Buzzfeed

Site to See: But You’re Like Really Pretty

OMG I love this blog! But You’re Like Really Pretty is a Tumblr blog by illustrator Ryan Casey, who posts a new comic every Wednesday poking fun at the latest pop culture buzz.  BYLRP recently won the “Best Kept Secret Weblog” award in the 2010 Bloggies, and I think it’s pretty easy to see why.

Some of my favorite BYLRP posts so far:

But You’re Like Really Fugly, Susan.

But You’re Like Really Fat, Mariah.

But You’re Like Really Together, Brangelina?

But You’re Like Really Busted, Tiger.

Hilarious.   >> Go check out the rest.